To Be Destined
by A Dyslexic Writer
Summary: A wandering sorcerer in a strange green and white stripped hat saves Isshin and Masaki Kurosaki from the 'Wild Hunt', using complex magic to hide Masaki's trail from the dark horsemen. When Isshin asks how they could repay him, saying that they would give him what ever he ask for, the man smiled and said, "You will give me that which you already have, but do not know."
1. Chapter 1

Ichigo Kurosaki moved carefully, each foot step measured, his breathing, no more than the slightest murmur in the still air, his arms raised in order to protect any of his vitals at a moment's notice. For in the ruined old house, old to fire years back, one mistake could be his last.

A feeling, a jolt moving up his spin, and Ichigo dove to the side just as a large grey blur rushed past the space right where he had been standing just moments before. The monster stood up at its full height, just short of seven feet tall, his eyes were small black beads in its large distorted head, its fanged jaws hanging partway's open as it looked at the orange haired boy with pure loathing.

"Found you." Ichigo said as he secured his footing and reached behind himself, pulling out a short silver chain. The monster eyed the chain warily, but did not pull back. It lifted up its arms, revealing leathery wings underneath the clawed fingers and gave a ear splitting scream the shook dust from the rafters.

Ichigo was moving out of the way before the creature had even lunged, feeling the dance of battle taking over him as his spun his arm in a wide arc, catching the monster across the face with the silver chain. The metal vibrated as it came into contact with the beast's skin and the thing let out a howl of pain. But pained as it was, it was still going to put up a fight.

Ichigo took a half step pack, lifting up his left arm and gritted his teeth as the clawed finger ripped over it, pulling apart the clothe of his coat and getting into the flash of his lower arm. The pain was their, but the boy looked past it, gazing towards the opening that had been made for him. He lunged forward, smashing himself into the monster's chest, pushing its legs out so that they fell together, him on top of the monster.

Pinning its wings to the sides with he's knees, he began to smash at its face, again and again, with the silver chain. Each time it tried to move its wings, to push him off, he would just lean further forward and hit harder.

The struggle continued for only two minutes, thought Ichigo was still panting from exhaustion. The beast's face so blooded from the beating that its grey skin seemed to have been dyed red with its blood. But finally, the silver had taken its effect, the monster was to weak to fight back anymore. "Hey you bastard." Ichigo growled to the creature. "I hope you can understand me." From behind his back, the boy drew a short but sharp knife. "I want you to know why you are going to die."

The monster looked up at him, its beady eyes full of something akin to fear. "D...don't... ple..." The monster rasped, seeming to have some ability to speak, even in its injured state.

"This if for that little girl you killed. This is for Mary! You bastard!" Ichigo cried as he drove the knife down into the monster's throw, ignoring the blood that sprayed outwards from the wound. He pulled it down, cutting the monster open from the throat, down to the middle of its belly. The creature squirmed, blood pumping out of its mouth as it tried to get rid of the liquid that know filled its lungs. But it didn't last, and the beast lay silent.

(((

A group had gathered outside of the ruined buildings doors, the say why it would in any city when such a racket came from within. Karakura might have been different from other cities in a lot of ways, but this was not one of them.

Gasps filled the crowd as the door swung open and a young man stepped out. His body was covered in blood and at his side he dragged a large grey thing, even more bloody than himself. Throwing it down in front of the crowd he moved to the side and leaned up against the building, his hands working quickly at his own arm where a small trickle of blood came from an open wound. He was tying something around it, an bandaged that he had been carrying with him.

Though hardly any of them where looking at that. Most where looking at the creature. "A vampire, here?" Went one middle aged woman, holding her child close and trying to shield the struggling boy's eyes from the corpse. Several others echoed the sentiment.

"Out of the way, let be get a looksee here!" The bellowing and authoritative voice of Ivan, the local guard captain. "Oh bleeding hell!" The dwarf spat as he finally got his way into the inner circle and saw the seen. "Get on out of here, there be nothing to see, just scatter, all of ye! Trevers, get some of the boys and get that thing out of the streets."

The gathered people didn't seem happy, but they knew better than to test the dwarf's short temper and started to move on with their lives. "It looks like ye did it again, Ichigo." Ivan said, spitting to the side onto the vampire's dead boy. "How ye keep doing this, I have no idea."

The boy shook his head, layers of dust falling out of his orange hair. He was young, only fifteen years old, though he had the height and broad shoulders of a full grown man. He was fit from his job down at the docks unloading crates from the ships coming from the open seas. His expression was like stone as he looked straight past the guard and towards a girl standing a few feet away. A short half elf child, with pale brown hair and green eyes.

"I got him for you. You can rest easy now, Mary" Ichigo said calmly. The girl smiled and nodded, sparks of golden light dancing around her as she disappeared from Ichigo's view, as she passed on.

"Mary? Ye mean the shoe maker's daughter than went missing a fortnight ago?" Ivan asked, when Ichigo nodded the dwarf's face screwed up and he started into a string of dwarven curses. "Damn it all! Back in my day, creature's like this one didn't come into the cities. They'd be too scared to come! They only haunted the woods, trying to wait for some poor fool to cross its path! But now! We got drowners grabbing women from the inside the harbor! There are ghouls coming out of the woodwork! All kind of creepy crawlers down in the dumps! And now vampires! Fucking vampires!" The dwarf raged. "All the creatures are starting to come out of the dark places and are hanging about our humble little villages, and some daff nobles and eternal flaming morons killed off most of our Witchers!"

Ichigo grumbled, his right hand on his bleeding left arm. The dwarf winced, looking and feeling rather foolish. "Oh, right. Ye need to get that look at I'd beat. Should I do it. Better if ye're at least patched up before yer pa give it to ye good and proper like."

"That would be good, thanks Ivan." Ichigo said, holding out the arm to the dwarf to take a good look at. "Hows the family?" Ichigo asked through gritted teeth as the dwarf none so gently took the bandage off and began to clean the wound with some whiskey he had on hand.

"Ga! Same as they ever were. My wife is still going on about how we should be move further north before all this rebel nonsense gets us into a sorts. She says she's got relitives up there that help out, but that's a load of hog if I ever hear it. Her family hadn't spoken to her since we married. Didn't exactly like that their pretty daughter had child with a dwarf." Ivan grunted. "She be worried that our boys be taken away, like so many other mutts. But that won't happen here, I tell her, not less they feel like dragging away the whole town."

Ichigo gave a small smile, he enjoyed the dwarf's rantings. Not to mention that he was mostly right. So few people in Karakura were full blooded human. Most people there had at least two or three different bloods in them. Ichigo himself had no idea what he was. His dad was mostly human, but had dwarf and druid in his family tree, and him and his sisters were never told exactly what there mother was. Given the small points on Karen's ears and his own quick strides, there was definitely some elf in there. Karakura was a sanctuary of the mutts of the world, its culture unlike any other settlement because of it.

"Well, it isn't anything pretty, but it will last until yer pa does it up proper." Ivan said giving a sharp nodded as he let go of Ichigo's bandaged arm.

"Thank's Ivan. Now at least I won't faint from blood loose while the old got is trying to strangle me." Ichigo said, giving the bandaging a look over before standing up. "I'd better head back know. He's probably already heard about all this. Shouldn't put it off."

"Ichigo!" Ivan shouted, stopping the boy. The dwarf looked to the side to where the guard boys were moving the vampire's dead body. "We... we really should give ye something for ye..."

"No Ivan. I didn't kill it for money. My family's well off enough as it is." Ichigo said, cutting the dwarf off. "We've been over this. I'm not a Witcher."

Ivan gave a half laugh. "Ye right about that. One difference is that we actually got ye." The dwarf joked as he looked up into Ichigo's eyes. "But... every time I look into your yellow eyes, I half expect them to go all cat like. Ye know?" The dwarf then shook his head. "Doesn't matter! Ye got the job done, you need some kind of reward!"

"Give it to Mary's parents." Ichigo said with a sad expression. "Tell them... I'm sorry." With that, the boy started to walk back home, half holding his injured arm and not looking back.


	2. Chapter 2

"I'm home." Ichigo said, walking through the front door of the small house where is father practiced his profession. It was a nice enough place, though sparsely furnished, the only decretive thing in the entire place was a painting of Ichigo's late mother in the middle of the far wall.

Though Ichigo had hardly gotten through the door before a foot slammed into his stomach. He took a half step back and lifted up his uninjured arm as a fist came around to smack him in the temple, only barely blocking the hit in time. His head swam as he tried to regain control of his lungs after the first hit. His eyes focusing on the man standing in front of him, Ichigo's own father.

The fist that had tried to hit him in the head opened and grabbed Ichigo's blocking around, tossing him to the floor as it pulled him out of the doorway and into the house. "You idiot!" Isshin Kurosaki shouted as his son while Ichigo rolled back to a crouching position, and grabbed the knee that was aimed for him.

He lifted the knee, pulling his father off balance and sending the man tumbling to the ground. "Shut up! I'm not the guy attacking his injured son, stupid!" Ichigo shouted back.

Isshin glared up at his son, his wide chin, strong shoulder, large hands and dormant nose, as well as his more aggressive tendencies showed his dwarven heritage and upbringing, though he was as tall as any human man and one of the most selfless people you could come across. His black hair was rather greasy and pointed up a bit and his chin was covered in a stubble that never went away, no matter how much he shaved.

"Not when the son was the one stupid enough to get hurt in the first place!" Isshin lunged forward, tackling Ichigo to the ground and the two of them scrappled for a few seconds, exchanging swears in the several languages that the two had gain over their years.

"Enough of that!" The two stopped in a comical position, with a hand on the other's collar and a fist pulled back in order to throw a punch. Yuzu, one of the two twin little sisters of Ichigo was standing over them with her hands on her hips. She was trying for her best scowl, but with her soft features it really didn't have the effect she was looking for. She looked more adorable than intimidating. The apron she was wearing also diminished the attempt.

"He started it." Ichigo said as the two males seperated.

"I should have ended it two." Isshin grumbled, but a cough from the girl silenced them.

"Honestly, you two are so childish." Karin said with a sigh. The second twin was sitting at the table behind her sister. The two couldn't have looked less alike. Yuzu's brown hair was shorter and have a more mousy look to it, while Yuzu's hair was shoulder length all around, mostly to hide the slight point to her ears. Though they did both share the same brown eyes. "At least wait until we have cleaned Ichigo up before you to do this again."

"Fine, you get the bandages, thread and needle. Yuzu, you get him something clean to wear." Isshin said grudgingly. He then grabbed Ichigo's left arm and started to inspect the wound.

Though his hands were large and rough, his fingers were surprisingly nimble as he cleaned the wound. Though he had enough practice. He was the town's healer, though a none magical one, and Yuzu and Karin were both apprenticed under him for the last three year, since they turned eight.

"Dammit Ichigo, how many times are you going to do this. Your risking your life out there you know. I didn't train you so that you could go looking for trouble, it was so that you could protect yourself and your little sisters." Isshin said angrily as he worked, starting on the thread and beginning to sew Ichigo's arm shut.

"If I didn't, she wouldn't have been able to pass on." Ichigo reply came. They had the same argument every time. Everytime someone was killed by a monster, Ichigo would see their restless spirits, and he would talk to them. He would find out what happened, and then hunt down the creature responsible for it. dozens of times this had happened. It had gotten to the point where some people would go to him directly rather than posting on the Witcher's board. Wasn't like there were any Witchers around anyways. At least not as many as there needed to be in order to keep up with it all. "There has to be a reason. A reason for why I can see all this. For why I keep managing to get out in one piece. There has to be a reason I am still alive."

"Don't think like that!" Isshin shouted. "Don't you dare get reckless on me! Go out if you must, but don't think that you are predestined to make it our alive! If you die before I do, I will make sure you never rest in peace! You hear me, boy!" Isshin closed his eyes. "To hell with destiny. To hell with it." He finished tying Ichigo's bandages and pulled the boy up. "Wash yourself off. Having all this monster blood around isn't good for anyone. Besides, tomorrow is..."

Isshin never finished that sentence, though he didn't have to. Both men gave sad looks towards the picture of Masaki Kurosaki. "Yeah... tomorrow." Ichigo said, nodding to show that he understood. The rest of the day passed without a word. The shadow of the day after hanging over them.

* * *

It was that day. The day all of Karakura knew to be extra careful on, because if you managed to get yourself in a pickle and needed a healer fast, then you were shit out of luck. You'd find the Kurosaki house locked up tight for the day as the entire family went out.

The Kurosaki males didn't have any formal wear clothes, instead choosing sets of none work related evening wear, while the twins wore their dresses, black to mark the sad memory.

Some people might have mocked them for continuing the ritual of grief year after year, when death and war were the only true constance in the world, but it was dwarvish costume. It was taught by blood to the father and by action to the children. Dwarves only ever take on wife who is to be their last until their dying days. Though should the husbands can hardly expect the same treatment even in life. Leading to the males of the species being overly protective of their mates, convinced that everyone else is trying to steal them, forcing dwarves to try their damned hardest to make enough money to keep the girl's love. Ironic, since most would consider the dwarf girls to be squat and unappealing, and they swear and bite like sailors.

So, eight years after the death of Masaki Kurosaki, the family of four went to the lone hill outside the city boundaries where they had buried her. It was common for people to be buried outside of the cemetery. Most of the people in Karakura never went to the Church of the Eternal Flame anyways, and they were too remote to have less known temples.

They brought tokens and flowers, as well as some of the fruits that Masaki had loved so dearly during her life. They cleaned away the fallen leafs, and poured water over the grave marker. Isshin hummed low tones and recounted short stories from the past to entertain his children and give memoriance to his lost love. Finally they sat there on the hill, silent, each lost in their own thoughts.

Ichigo looked out past the stone, towards the horizen and the sea, remembering the day his mother had died, struck down my a force that Ichigo couldn't have understood and still didn't understand. He remembered the feel of the cold sand underneath him, growing warmer as his mother's blood drained from her body.

He had been pinned underneath her when it had happened. The dark shadows, the bitter cold, the sounds of horses and of turning waves, screams and noises for which he had never found a right comparison, shards of ice littered the area; everything had happened so fast, and afterwards no one on that beach was left alive. No one, save for Ichigo.

That day had haunted him, not only in his own nightmares, but in the waking world. People began to say he was cursed by the events, tainted by the bloodshed there. It had left him with the eternal question that plague him day after day, 'why am I alive?' For what reason had he survived when so many had not. He hadn't been the strongest, or even the most out of the way. In fact, he had seemed to be a ground zero of whatever event had driven the disaster. His mother had been killed, her body cast on top of him, her blood filling his vision. Yet he had remained completely untouched.

Had it been simple chance? A twist of fate dressed up as a small miracle? Or had something else been at work? Did the world require him to live and fate itself shielded him from the disaster? His life was spared because there was something he needed to do.

He had clung onto that belief. That he had something that he needed to do. That there had been a reason that he was permitted to still live. So he through himself head long into the only thing that made sense to him; the spirits. He had always been able to see them, though he had learned to hide this fact from all save his family.

He did whatever he could to comfort the spirits, trying to help them pass on. Later, when monsters became involved, a young boy had been eaten by a hag, Ichigo took up a silver chain and strangled the offending monster to death. Since then, his body count continued to rise as he fought with monsters of all kinds on land, sea and air; hags, kikimora, drowners, harpies, necrophages, a vampire, the list goes on.

He had found that he could sense their presence, that he knew when and how they would attack. He was faster than anyone should have been natural. When so many others would have dead, Ichigo found himself pulled through time and time again.

Yet, he felt no satisfaction in it. He didn't feel as though he was fulfilling his purpose. He simply killed more and more monsters, and after each one he felt a strong pull, something telling him that he had to head North. A few times it had been so strong, that he had found himself standing on the northern edge of the town, staring out on the long road. But it was his family that anchored him to Karakura.

Ichigo was taken out of his thoughts by his dad's hand on his shoulder. "Ichigo. It's time we start heading back home." Isshin said, flicking his head towards where Yuzu and Karin half stood supporting each other as they fought off sleep. The entire day had gone by and the sun would soon be setting.

Ichigo could hear him, but it felt like it was over a long distance. "I... think I'll stay a bit longer." He said, turning his head away. He wasn't sure why he had said it. He wasn't even sure it was him and not someone else using his voice. But he felt like he couldn't leave, not yet anyways.

Isshin looked down at his son with a cocked eyebrow, but soon nodded. "Alright, just try to get home before too long." He said before walking away, helping his two daughters along the path back home.

Ichigo turned back to the grave, resting his head on the backs of his hands. "Mom, I just don't know what I am supposed to do anymore." He said solemnly.

He was there for almost another hour and was starting to wonder just what it was he was waiting for when something caught his eye. Movement near the base of the hill. He squinted trying to make out what was going on as a small figure dismounted for a horse and headed off into the marsh's woods that lay to the south east of the city.

Ichigo frowned, no one he knew in town would have dared enter those woods, especially at such a late hour. Not to mention that the figure look to be no more than a child sitting on the large horse. Standing up, Ichigo moved down the hill towards where he had seen the person entering the woods, his feet moving of their own accord. Once again, Ichigo felt a pull, drawing him in, and this time he could not resist.


	3. Chapter 3

Most would have found it difficult, to follow the person's trail into the deeper marshes. Whoever it was hardly left a foot step in the mud filled swamps, and only the snapping of an occasional twig betrayed that anything had come through at all. Ichigo had seen Dryads who left more evidence of their passing.

Even so, Ichigo followed as fast as he could, relying not on sight to guide him, but on person's leaked energy trail, sort of like a scent. It was a method Ichigo had devised himself over the years. Each and every thing, as far as Ichigo could tell, had magical energy about it, though the monsters produced the greatest quantity. So if you can feel out that energy and follow it along, you can find just about anything.

He moved as quickly as he dared through the marsh, careful to look out for sink holes and keeping his senses open for any other monsters that might be nearby. Even so, it was a while before he felt it. Coming from the same direction his query had gone was something else. A pattern of magic like nothing he had ever sensed before. It felt as if someone was blowing out air, rather than simply leaving a scent in their wake. With each step the energy got stronger and stronger, and a sense of underline wrongness started to creep up underneath Ichigo's skin.

Monsters were becoming closer together, gathered just outside his vision as he steered himself to stay clear of them. All of them seemed somehow stronger than the average ones he had been used to. Just as he began to get worried about the return trip, he step out from behind a set of heavy branches and saw the one he was following.

He froze at the sight of her, for it was a girl. She was small, just a child, probably only a year older than Ichigo's own little sisters. Her black hair fell down to her shoulders in a measuredly chaotic way, if that made any sense. Upon hearing his hand on a tree branch she spun around, starting straight at him with eyes that were a pale violet color, her expression calm and collected. Ichigo's eyes went from her face down her small framed body which had been garbed in a black robe like clothe, at her side was a sword, the butt of its sheath was dug into the ground as she seemed to be drawing with it. In the hands of the child, Ichigo was convinced that it had to be a toy of some sort.

"What are you doing here?" The girl snapped, her purple eyes narrowing as she measured Ichigo up. Her voice was cold, but rather pretty in a way, and seemed so odd coming from a child.

"I should be the one asking you that." Ichigo said as he approached the child. "Don't you now that it is dangerous going into these marshes? Come on, I'm taking you back to the city."

"I have business here. I will ask you this only once; leave, and don't interfere." The girl said turning her attention back towards the ground.

Ichigo glared at the child, his skin was crawling from whatever it was in the area, and he couldn't just leave the girl. "Not an option, I'm getting you out of here. I don't give a shit about any dare your little friends gave you, but you aren't staying in this place." Ichigo grabbed the girl's shoulder and pulled her around. "Now are you going to go back quietly, or am I going to have to beat your ass until you decide to act like a good little girl?"

The child froze, her purple eyes widening and an expression of pure hate entering her face, showing off white teeth. "What did you just call me?" Ichigo was shocked, not just by the venum in her voice, but by a sudden force that started to leak from the girl. Before he could move, one of her hands twisted into a complex sign and she murmured words that he couldn't catch.

It felt as if something was crushing him, his arms were pulled behind his back with such force that it knocked him to his knees. Ichigo's shoulders were screaming, feeling as though they were going to be pulled out of their sockets. "The... hell..." Ichigo gasped, struggling against the weight that he know found on him.

"I am nearly thrice your age, you stupid git, and I won't be mocked." The child, no, the sorceress spat at him.

Fuck. Ichigo had never encountered a sorceress before. He hard about their unnaturally young appearances, but he hadn't expected something like this. And he had gone and pissed one off thinking it was an innocent little girl. "What the hell, is a sorceress doing... out here?" Ichigo gasped, glancing around. He saw patterns pressed into the loose soil.

"That is none of your concern." The sorceress said, a smile spreading across her face, one that made Ichigo want to shiver, if he could have. "Be glad I was so merciful, most other sorceresses would have turned you into a toad for your insults. That paralyzing smile was an incomplete one. You still have use of your legs, and it should wear off, in around three days."

"Three days! Now you..." Ichigo started, but stopped as something in him screamed danger. "Get down!" He awkwardly kicked his body forward, pushing himself onto the sorceress, who had been to surprised that he could most so much to get out of the way.

As his body pushed against hers, he saw a large burst of crimson light flying straight at them. He twisted his body in order to shield the girl and the flames hit him on his already injured left side. He screamed in pain as his skin was burned and his clothes were set alight. He forced himself to roll over in the mud, quickly squelching the flames and giving him line of sight on whatever had attacked them.

"Shit, its worse than I thought." The sorceress gasped as she pulled herself out from underneath Ichigo, and unsheathed a bright silver short sword covered in runes.

The monster that had attacked them flouted a good foot off of the ground. It's head was that of a boar's, with dark orange fur and a mane made of pure fire licking around the place where a neck should be. Its chest was wide and twisted, baring two long arms, each segment as long as its body, and each ending in bird like talons. Below that, a worm like tail twisting out underneath it.

The creature was not just ugly, it was otherworldly in its ability to repulse the orange haired boy. "The hell is that thing?" Ichigo asked as he fought down the pain that was gripping his entire body.

"An embodiment of fire, an Ifrit." The sorceress said as she dipped her body down and held the sword in front of her with one hand, her second held to the side, ready to cast spells. "This Point of Power is growing unstable. Rifts are opening between the spheres. But still, I didn't expect to find one of its kind here."

Having its surprise attack fail, the beast circled, keeping both eyes on the sorceress, completely ignoring Ichigo who was still burned and bound on the muddy ground. It opened its snout, letting wisps of silver steam exit the sides to travel slowly into the air. The sorceress, also moving in a circle, all be it, a smaller one, the unsure footing of the swamp making it difficult for her to maneuver. Then the stale mate shattered and the battle commenced.

A sphere of fire erupted of one of the Ifrit's hand and sailed through the air at the sorceress. But the girl didn't falter, moving with practiced grace she brought her hand around, releasing a spell that shot out a pale blue bubble of light, dispelling the flames. Then, while the fiery monster was blinded by the light, she took three quick steps forward, closing the distance between the two of them and slashed outwards with the silver blade.

The Ifrit pulled back at the last second, dodging the tip of the blade before it could reach it's stomach and swung one of its massive arms down towards the girl. The sorceress's free hand shot up, another spell cast as golden links appeared in the air, wrapping around the monster's arm and pulling the swung aside.

The sorceress tried to take advantage, bringing her silver sword back around it an artful sweep, one faster than any a normal human could accomplish leading Ichigo to believe the girl was enhancing her physical strength with magic. Unfortunately, the chain that held onto the beast snapped and it withdraw quickly sending out still more flames to force the sorceress back.

Ichigo watched in stunned silence. He had never seen anything like this in his entire live. The sorceress's moves were like a dance, setting a pace for her body to accomplish without the focus of her mind as she spent her concentration on her spells, the brilliant flashes of light and power. It was... beautiful to watch. While the monster's savage blows were powerful swift and savage, making him sure that a single true hit would be the end of the girl.

The Ifrit flew up high and went into a death dive, speeding for the girl so fast that she had no time to cast one of her defensive spells. Her free hand grabbed the body of her hilt and she held onto a two handed guard. The attack was blocked but sent her to the ground hard enough to cause her to go sliding through the mud, her sword being wrenched from her hands and falling to the ground, standing up right just a few feet away from her.

"No!" Ichigo shouted, trying to move to help, but only managing to get another face full of mud. The Ifrit flouted above the girl, as if laughing at her. But when she rolled over, she had a smerk on her face.

"Got you." The sorceress said, moving a hand over the girl and shouting a spell. The runes she had shaped into the ground earlier began to glow and dozens of golden chains jumped from the earth to latch onto the beast. The Ifrit screamed in surprise, trying to tear through the links, but for each one he rendered, two more took its place. "Chiniku no kamen, banshō, habataki, hito no na o kansu mono yo! Sōka no kabe ni sōren o kizamu, taika no fuchi o enten ni te matsu!"

This final spell was nothing like the others. Ichigo could see that nothing was being held back. A river of blue light passed out of the girls hand, falling over the bound monster. The wind roared as the power from the attack tore through the air, ripping up entire trees and leaving a plot of land large enough to start an entire farming district.

"Sōren Sōkatsui. The spell requires both hands and some time, but it well worth it." The sorceress said smugly as she admired her work. Ichigo could hardly blame her, it had been breath taking. But even so, something didn't feel right.

"It's still there." Ichigo said, long before the smoke and throw up mud had cleared from the air. He could still feel the monster's presence, and it wasn't getting any weaker. "It's still alive! Can't you feel it! Its getting stronger!" Ichigo shouted, sure of what he had been saying. The sorceress looked at him in surprise.

With a deafening roar, the smoke was blasted away to reveal the monster, flouting in the air, right were it had been before. Only it was different. Its skin and hair had turned an azure blue color and white flames danced around the tip of its tail.

"Dammit!" The sorceress swore. "Its drawing more power from the point!" She tried to rush forward to regain her sword, but a shot of white fire flew straight at her, requiring the need of a defensive spell. The blue bubble appeared around the sorceress, but this time, the fire was too strong, smashing through the shield and hitting the girl. She screamed as her skin was burned and she was sent to the ground.

Ichigo watched as the Ifrit laughed, flouting slowly towards her, moving in for the kill. "No... dammit!" He shouted, pushing himself to his knees. "Get away from her." He said though the Ifrit ignored him. He was just a normal human, bound and helpless. It was the sorceress that interest him. Ichigo gritted his teeth, struggling against the unseen bounds that held him. "Get... away!"

The Ifrit stopped as it felt something and turned towards Ichigo. The boy's arms were getting farther and farther away from his sides and he was somehow managing to rip through the magical bind. Something that should have been impossible. The sorceress watched him doing this in silent awe, unable to fully believe it.

With one final cry he pushed as hard as he could and the magic dispelled. Then, staggering, he took a few steps forward, pulling out his silver chain. "Stop it you idiot! Normal silver won't work!" The sorceress cried out. "This isn't just some monster! It is an avatar of fire! True magic given physical form in our world! You can't beat it! Just run!"

Ichigo looked down at the silver chain and spat. "Like hell." He said before letting the chain slip between his fingers. Then he took a few steps forward and grabbed the girl's silver sword. The moment it was gripped between his fingers he felt power like nothing he had ever experienced before. He felt sure of himself, like nothing could stop him. He knew he could win. "I'm not running."

His eyes locked onto the Ifrit which was bellowing in rage at being confronted again. The short sword held out to the side, prepared to strike. But the sorceress noticed something strange. Ichigo's eyes, which had been a yellowish golden color, were now glowing a bright blue.

The Ifrit's arms were thrown out and a ball of white flames flew straight for Ichigo, but the boy didn't make any move to dodge. Instead, he swung the sword around with such speed as to make it nothing more than a blur. The sorceress gasped as unadulterated energy, the pure essence of the Force was released from the blade. A wave of blue light that ripped through the ball of fire like a strong wind and blew it out of exitance.

Ichigo leaned forward onto his strong leg and lunged forward before the monster could regain its composure. He covered the distance between them in just two strides and struck out with a quick upward's slash which caught the beast's arm and cleaved it clean off. The Ifrit screamed and its form disappeared into a flash of white flames.

"It's still here." Ichigo murmured to himself, his glowing blue eyes passed over the clearing but found nothing, so he closed them, concentrating on his other sense to guide him.

The sorceress watched as he shifted his balance into a neutral position, bringing his burned left hand around to grip the small sword with both. Ichigo's breathing stopped as he waited for it to happen.

The moment the creature's form started to reappear behind him, he attacked. Spinning around, ducking underneath the outstretched arm and lunging the silver blade into the beast's throat. The Ifrit froze, a gargle of surprise escaping its snouty mouth just before Ichigo forced the blade upwards, cutting the head down the middle, leaving the body to fall to the ground, fizzling into weaker and weaker flames until all that remained was ashe.

"You are... a Source." The sorceress said in surprise as the boy stood there, having felled the monster. But slowly, the burning blue left his eyes, the blade slipped out from between his fingers, and the boy fell to the ground.


	4. Chapter 4

When Ichigo woke up, he was confused. His confusion started in its first stage as he felt something wet brushing up against his cheek over and over. A horse, a starch white horse was licking his face. But why was there a horse? Where did it come from?

After pushing the horse's face away came his second realization, which was that he was in the grass on the side of the hill just south of town. The grass was warm and the sun was already fairly high in the sky. It was warm and nice, but he had no idea why he was there.

This lead to his third realization, that the grass was right up against his skin. His shirt was missing, and there was something on his chest. Looking down, his heart jumped up into his throat as he saw a head of messy black hair on his chest. A young girl's arms were wrapped around him.

"For the love of the gods, please tell me I didn't." Ichigo said, closing his eyes and trying to will himself to wake up. But no matter how much he willed reality to change, his senses didn't register anything different. He peaked open one eye, glancing down at the innocent, sleeping face of the sorceress from the night before. She was so close that he could smell her pine scented shampoo. Her graceful, slim body was holding tightly to him so that he could feel her body warmth, causing the young man to gulp and blush a deep red.

How the hell did he end up in this position? His thoughts went back to the night before, but things were not adding up. He was wondering what he should do when the girl started to shift around, her head rising up from Ichigo's chest.

She sat up, yawning wide and moving up her hand to paw at her eyes in a really cute manner. Her bright purple eyes looking towards Ichigo, seeming to not comprehend what she was seeing. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before the girl's sleepy expression turned to one of confusion and then, as her eyes drifted down Ichigo's bare chest, embarrassment.

She pushed herself away from Ichigo and scrambled away from him. "If... if you tell anyone about this! I will turn you into a pig and sell you to a butcher!" The sorceress squealed, her cheeks turning a bright red as she pointed threateningly towards Ichigo.

"Hey don't point at me! I don't have a clue how this happened!" Ichigo said in his defense, holding up his hands. Then he realized something. His body didn't hurt. Looking along his left arm, the burns were gone, and so was the cut from the vampire, only the slightest of scars to show that it had ever been there to begin with.

"D..don't get the wrong idea. I was just healing you. I must have used to much energy and... It doesn't mean anything! Nothing happened so just forget it!" The sorceress shouted, blushing like a virgin. Something that was odd, since rumors said that virgin girls cannot preform magic.

"You're a healer? A real one?" Ichigo said in surprise, looking down at the arm. He'd never seen healing magic before.

"My grades in healing were always the best in school." The sorceress said, turning up her chin to his comment.

"Oh... thanks." Ichigo said, turning his head away. Nearby he could see the remains of his shirt which had been burned pretty badly. "Ichigo."

"Huh? What was that?" The sorceress said glancing back at him, causing him to blush as he saw her purple eyes and still wild hair.

"My name. It's Ichigo Kurosaki." He said, trying to keep his voice from raising up, the way it tended to whenever he got flustered.

The girl seemed to tense up. "I'm Rukia... Kuchiki." She said hesitantly.

"Well Rukia, don't suppose you would be willing to tell me what the hell happened?" Ichigo said. Rukia looked surprised, probably from the informal greeting. Sorceresses were usually seen at the same leave as princesses, yet he referred to her by her given name with no formalities added.

She looked at him for a few seconds before sighing. "I suppose I owe you that much. Fine, listen closely because I refuse to explain this more than once." Rukia said, moving towards a saddle bag that was close by and pulling out a notebook and a pencil. Ichigo blinked in surprise as she began to draw. "There is more worlds that just the one we reside in, dimensional planes where the states of reality differ and the laws of nature and skewed. These worlds we call spheres." She said, drawing a circle in the middle of the page and labeling it Earth and putting odd cartoon bunnies inside of it. Ichigo raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"Usually, these spheres do not interact, but there are points where the boundary between one sphere and another becomes thin. We call these points, 'Points of Power'. And wherever they are, large amounts of magic can usually be found." She drew another circle, with it overlapping with the first. "This free magic causes mutations in the creatures that live nearby, recreating what are referred to as 'monsters'." She added fangs to the bunnies in the overlapping region. "The Point of Power in this region was becoming unstable, causing greater mutations in the nearby monsters and making them more aggressive than normal. So I came here in order to restabilize the point before it could threaten the nearby settlement."

"The Ifrit was not truly a monster, by the definition I had given you, as it was not from this world." She drew a cartoon fire with an angry face in the second sphere and then added arrows pointing from it into the sphere labeled Earth. "It was a being from the sphere referred to as the plane of fire, a fire genie that passed through the unstable point of power and manifested in this world. Does that answer your questions?"

"Did you know your drawings are shit?" Ichigo said bluntly. Rukia's glare was as cold as ice and with one solid movement of her hand, he was sent face first into the ground.

"Honestly, for a sorcerer you are such an idiot." Rukia spat.

"What the hell are you talking about? I'm not a sorcerer." Ichigo grumbled as he pushed himself up off of the ground, rubbing his face with one hand.

"Don't lie to me! I saw you gathering the Force just last night! Sure you were wielding it like a baboon wielding a large stick, but there is no way you could have gathered that much without any knowledge of what you were doing!" Rukia said angrily, but seeing the dumb look on Ichigo's face her angrily expression passed. "You really didn't know? You are a source, and didn't know it? You are a completely untrained source?" She said dumbstruck.

"What are you even taking about? What's a source?" Ichigo said confused.

Rukia's expression was hard for the boy to read as she stared at him, but after a few seconds she looked away towards the town. "You live in this town then, don't you? Do you have any family there?"

"Huh, well yeah. My dad and two little sisters." Ichigo said not sure where this was going.

Rukia turned back towards him and then with a serious expression said something that Ichigo had a hard time believing. "Your father, I wish to speak to him."

* * *

 **I'm going to be bumping up the rating from T to M. Since this will probably not be the last mention of sexualized content.**

 **This is just a small connecting chapter before the confronting of Ichigo's day and the revealing of the past. So bare with me for a bit. Sadly that bit might be a while as my stable internet and time to dedicate to writing is coming to an end for the next week, and I probably won't find anymore time to write, and certainly no internet while my family is going into the Outback in Australia.**

 **I would have rather simply stayed home, but as all of you under the age of 18 know, or opinions don't count for ****.**


	5. Chapter 5

"Where is he!?" Isshin shouted angrily, ignoring the shouts from outside for him to shut up. It was early in the morning and some people were still trying to pull themselves together from the night before. But Isshin Kurosaki was a firm believer in Dwarven customs involving family matters; if you have a problem, you trumpet it. Anyone who insists on keeping family matters private is a no good spy who beats their wife. "How could that boy not come home last night!? How could he make his sweet little sisters' worry like this!?"

His rant was cut short by one of the 'sweet little sisters' kicking him hard in the back and knocking him to the floor. "Shut up you old goat. Ichigo is fine. I doubt even the plague could slow our idiot brother down by much." Karin said trying to get the man to stop bothering the neighbors.

"How could you say that Karin, Ichigo was already injured and it isn't like him to stay out all night." Yuzu asked her twin, clearly still worried about their brother despite what Karin had said.

"You call that scratch on his arm an injury? I'm telling you, he just stayed at mom's grave last night and dozed off. He'll be back here in a few minute, or less he is probably already down at the docks doing his job. I think the mermaids were sending up a shipment of clams today." Karin said with a shrug. "It's no big deal. It's only been one night."

"Just one night? How can a daughter of mine be so blind to the evils a man can accomplish in just one..." Isshin started but was stopped when the front door open and Ichigo's voice rang through the house.

"I'm home! Now stop annoying the neighbors!"

Isshin dashed towards the front of the house to where they would usually see to the injured. "Ichigo were where you last ni..." Isshin started, but froze mid sentence. Right next to his beloved son was an attractive young girl with black hair and dark violet eyes. "Oh god it happened!"

"Huh?" Ichigo said confused as his father shoved him out of the way.

"Don't worry Miss, I will make sure that my boy takes full responsibility for his act..." This time it was a foot to the face that stopped the overly jumpy father.

"Don't make assumptions you goat faced bastard!" Ichigo roared, preparing to get into a brawl with his father. Isshin seemed equally ready to jump all over his son.

"As enlightening as this demonstration is, I am going to have to ask you both to stop. I didn't come here to waste time, I came to get my answers." The girl's icy voice stopped the father son duo cold.

"Oh... she's a Sorceress, isn't she?" Isshin asked glancing to his son.

"Yeah, her names Rukia, ran into her and some kind of fire monster in the marsh outside the city." Ichigo confirmed.

"Oh..." Isshin said again before muttering a short string of choice dwarven phrases, most involving the thieves of luck. But when he stopped her tried to put back on his smiling face. "Well Ms. Rukia, what can we do you for? We don't have much in terms of herbs in the area but what we got we are willing to share."

"No need." Rukia said, shooting down his offer quickly. "I am here because of your son. Are you aware that he was gifted in magic? That he is a Source?"

Isshin's mouth twitched and then fell into a sad expression. "Yeah, I know."

"Dad, what's a Source?" Yuzu asked, looking curiously at the Sorceress from the doorway of the dividing wall that separated the house from the hospital areas.

"A source is someone who is born with great magical talent." Isshin said calmly. "Anyone can become a sorcerer with enough training, but no amount of training can bridge the gap between a normal pitter and someone with talent."

"Wait, so you knew all along that I was this source thing?" Ichigo said, seeming surprised.

"Of course I knew. You showed so many signs of being connected that it would be impossible not to know." Isshin admitted, seeming upset that he was caught keeping secrets.

"You do know then what happens to a source when they remain untrained, don't you?" Rukia said, regaining attention. "With your average Source that doesn't receive training, they go insane. They began to see visions and there grip on reality is weakened. They stop feeling sensation and act out in rash and uncontrolled manners. They are a danger to themselves more than others though. They usually end there own lives or just sit around giggling madly to themselves."

"You mean our brother is going to end up like that?" Yuzu said, covering her mouth in shocked horror.

"No, because Ichigo isn't a normal Source. From what I have seen, his ability to draw on the force is far greater than a normal Source. He isn't just a danger to himself, he is a danger to everyone. If he lost control of himself he could destroy your entire town." Rukia said, earning herself looks of shock.

Isshin glared at the girl in front of him. "I know what you are trying to do. Your trying to get me to give up my son. You want to have him, to mold him however you want. Sorry to tell you, but someone beat you to it. He already has a Sorcerer waiting for him."

"Since when!" Ichigo shouted in surprise, more surprised that his father had made arrangements with a Sorcerer than that the Sorceress wanted to kidnap him.

"I promised the man sixteen years ago that Ichigo would be his to train." Isshin said, his voice sounded deeply ashamed.

"Dad, Ichigo is only fifteen." Karin pointed out.

"You knew that he would have powers before he was even born?" Rukia said, narrowing her eyes.

"Something like that." Isshin said before taking a deep breath. "Well, looks like everything is coming out. I doubt a Sorceress is going to just leave without getting the full story so you might as well make yourself comfortable. We got a spare room in the back for long term patients, assuming that the rumors that Sorceresses can't get the pokes is true. This story will take all day. About time I tell the kids anyways."

"Tell us what?" Ichigo asked, feeling weird about the whole situation.

"The story goes all the way back to when I first met your mother. Has to in order to explain everything properly." Isshin said before taking a seat and leaning back.

)))

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was twelve when my grandfather dragged me with him to the Lords castle where he worked as the captain of the guard. It was the first time I had gone there, since I was not exactly trained in how to talk to the stuck up pricks, but they put up with my grandfather, so I suppose they weren't that picky.

My grandpa, Coprick, was a dwarf. He might just have been the dwarfiest dwarf that ever walked the surface and he taught me everything I know. Even when I was twelve I still got to look down at him, used to really piss him off. I can still remember how he braided his bread. He claimed it was for style, but I know better, he wanted it to be just a inch longer so that it would reach his waist. A dwarf isn't consider a real man till his beard reaches his waist.

He and my grandmother were the ones who raised me after my father died in a mining accident and my mom caught her death of some illness or other. So I didn't exactly have much say in the matter when he grabbed me on morning and dragged me out of the house.

"Let go of my you old goat! I don't care what you say, I'm not going to go to that damned castle! I've got my own things to do without your shitty job getting in the way!" I'd shouted at the old man. Like all dwarves, he wasn't tall, but he had a vive like grip and was stubborn as the mountain, so arguing was pointless, but it was also a part of daily life.

"Now you be shutting your trap. I'd have half a mind to be taking my rod to you and reminding you whose in charge. I told you that the Lord's boy sons have put forward the idea that they want to become Knights instead of following their father's example and becoming a good ruler of people. So I been charged with seeing that they get there education in the sword and you are going to help me." My grandpa said to me.

"I don't see why I should be forced to spar with a couple noble brats just because you've got to teach 'em which side of the sword is the pointy end."

"Who ever said you'd be sparring them? I need a warm body I can beat black a blue without the boys' lady mother getting all snarky." My grandfather gave me that grin he had, the one that stretched out his face and made it look like he was really planning on killing a guy. So I throw my fist at him and we started to scrap right there at the castle gates.

Any how, that's when I first saw your mother. Her childish giggles distracted me long enough for my grandfather to get me into a lock and pin me against the ground. The old dwarf got lucky that time. But as I tried to spit the dirt out of my mouth, I looked up and saw a young girl, around ten years old, looking over at me from inside of a fountain pond.

Your mother had shoulder length acorn colored hair and the most gentle smile... but I hardly noticed since she was butt naked.

'Wait... what?'

Yeah, your mom didn't really understand things like modesty back then... actually, she didn't understand it until she turned sixteen, but that is later in the story. From my grandfather's smug position of being ontop of my back he started to exchange pleasantries with your mother, seemingly oblivious to the fact that her body was on display. "Oh, good morning Lady Marigold. I see you managed to get out of the tower again."

'Marigold, that's not our mother's name.'

We had to change our names later for reasons I'll get to. I was called Darcole Shiba back then. Now where was I... Oh, right, she had seemed to be as clueless about her own clothes being missing as my grandfather.

"It's good to see you to, Mr. Shiba. I managed to slip out while some of the servants were trying to find clean clothes from me. I'll remove the stains from the old ones later." She'd said with a large and pretty smile.

"Well, make sure that you don't stay in that pool for too long. Wouldn't want you to catch your death." My grandfather's manner had been joking, as if these was the most natural thing in the world.

"I won't. Remember, I am a sorceress! I don't get sick." She had responded proudly.

'Mom was a sorceress? I don't remember her ever casting magic?'

Would you all please stop interrupting me so I can tell the story! I will explain just give it time! It was around this time that she started to acknowledge my presence there.

"Who'd you bring with you today? I haven't seen him around before? A new recruit for the guards? He seems a little young for that." Her curious manner and tilt of the head had been so cure as to make me forget my position for a moment. That is, until my grandfather opened his stupid mouth.

"Naw, this be my grandson. Don't pay him no mind, he is just a useless meatbag that I brought along with me this morning." My grandfather had said, squeezing my neck a bit harder till I elbowed him in the gut hard enough to weaken his grip and turn the tables a bit.

"Who you calling useless you worn old drunk!" I'd shouted before half glancing at your mother before having to look away in embarrassment. "And why the hell are you just exchanging small talk! You aren't supposed to do that while naked!"

"Huh? Why not? What do clothes and talking to people have to do with one and other?" Your mother gave the cutest damn pout, and I was too dumbstruck trying to think of a way to respond to that question to realize my grandfather was on me again. But as I continued to wrestle with the old fart with your mother giggling and shouting her encouragement to the both of us, I found myself falling for her. And that is how I met your mother.

'I... I kind of wish I had never heard this.' 'Karin, don't say that. It's romantic.' 'It's weird as hell.' 'It explains so much... and yet so little.'

It wasn't supposed to explain everything. It's just setting the stage. I told you this was going to be a long story, so just keep listening.


	6. Chapter 6

The two months after I had met your mother all sort of flowed together. Everyday my grandfather and I would march up to the castle. And everyday we would show the lord's two sons a bit of swordsmanship before getting into a fight and pounding each other black and blue with the practice swords, after which you mother would use her magic to patch us up, and we would talk, your mother and I while on until the sunset sometimes till she was called away to study or I went home.

We did our job well, and after those two months the young lordlings would piss themselves if anyone suggested that they take up the sword. They had completely given up on the idea of ever becoming knights. Instead they got the idea of becoming famous hunters and were given bows and arrows and a target range. No one had the heart to tell them that their sister had enchanted the arrows to hit closer to the mark, and the bows to be easier to pull back. They were really completely incompetent with the bows, but they seemed happy enough, and hunters had a higher chance of coming back alive then knights.

Afterwards I had no reason to go to the castle anymore, so I joined the guards at the age of twelve in order to be able to go see your mother everyday. Everything was pretty alright for the next few years after that, but then problems started to emerge as the Lord's health started to decline.

You see, your mother wasn't really noble born, even though her father was the lord of the castle. She was born to one of the Lord's mistress, a half elf girl, in the days before his marriage. Being born to someone of lower blood and out of wedlock, she would usually had been punted to the cover the moment the Lord married. But your mother showed signs of being a powerful source and since having a sorceress in the family could be helpful, she was allowed to stay. They that doesn't mean that her stepmother liked it. She was kept locked up in the tall tower to study books on sorcery day after day, which is probably why your mother had just an adventurous spirit in the end. She took every chance she could to sneak out of that damn tower.

I remember how she always had me take her down to the mining tunnels. She said she liked to be underground, closer to the water ways that cared the magic through the earth. I didn't really understand it, but I would do anything to see that smile of hers. By the time I was eighteen, I had saved up enough money to try to ask for her hand. I had gotten a ring for her and everything.

I remember planning for days on how I was going to do it. I was going to climb up the outer wall of the tower, past the rest of the guards and get in through her window before going down on one knee to ask her to marry me. I had scouted out the wall in question and practiced for days in advance. I remember the other guards laughing at me as I claimed I was doing muscle exercise, though they probably all realized what it was really about simply by which tower I was trying to climb. My grandfather had been laughing for weeks, telling me that he was proud to have a grandson with more backbone and heart than brains.

It was the night before her fifteenth birthday, the night was clear and the moon was full when I started out from the house. Sneaking into the castle courtyard had been easy, since I knew the patrol routes like the back of my hand. The tower was built high, but it was fairly old, so small cracks in the mortar for me to stick my fingers into, and practice made it easy to find them even in the dark. I climbed the forty feet of the tall tower up to her window and tapped on the shutters. I had been shaking with excitement as I prepared to ask her the question.

But after hanging there tapping on the glass for ten minutes, my arms were starting to ache, and I was starting to get worried. I slipped a knife through the shutters and flipped the latch for the window, climbing into her room. Your mother was nowhere in sight.

I felt foolish, all my planning going to waste. But then I noticed something out of place. At the foot of your mother's writing table was a red apple with a single bite missing from it. The apple was bruised from falling from the table and the part that had been bitten off was starting to go yellow and the apple juice changed from exposure to the air.

I had searched the room a little more and found the smug marks of several pairs of large male boots on the floor and finally, a stone pendant covered in the old Dwarven runes with a yellow quartz stone set in the center. A present I had given your mother. One that she had never taken off.

I started to panic. I looked all over the place in her tower, not carrying if someone heard me. But after ten minutes and no one coming to even check what the noise was about, I realized no one was even there.

I sprinted out of the tower and rushed for the Lord's quarters. Some of the other guards tried to ask me what was going on. "Lady Marigold! She's missing! We need to organize a search!" I had shouted, trying to get to the lord's room. But I was stopped by the lady of the castle. I still remember that twisted look on her powdered white face. I can't imagine why anyone would willingly marry such a heartless woman.

"The lord is unwell. You won't disturb him for such a pointless matter." She had scoffed at me.

"Pointless?" I had been too shocked to even realize her twisted smile at first.

"Yes, pointless. That miserable child disappeared all the time. Scattering the guards is unnecessary." That bitch had said. "Who knows, maybe this time... she will decide never to come back."

That was when the pieces started to fall into place for me. Even though your mother wasn't the rightful heir to her house, she was the favorite child. Not only of the father, but of everyone. So the Lord's wife had decided to remove the possible obstacle to her sons' succession. She had arranged to have your mother removed from the castle... and then killed.

Realizing just how limited this made time, I spun on my feet, prepared to race out of the castle. "Stop right there." The 'Lady' had said to me. "You are not to continue this nonsense. Is that understood."

I turned to her, raised a middle finger and responded with the first words that came to mind. "Go fuck yourself! I'm not letting anything happen to Mary!" And with that I left to the armory to grab my equipment. The woman was calling for the guards to seize me, but none of them stepped forward to do so. We served the Lord, not that bitch, and even after the lord died, her sons would be the new lords, and they would have never approved of their half sister being killed like this. Even so, they didn't move to support me either, they weren't knights, they were just simple folks who made a living as guards. I understood, they had families they needed to think about. And I had thrown aside my duty to the Lord's house. Regardless what happened, after that day was done, I and my family would be considered criminals in those lands.

I grabbed the family sword, my grandfather's, that was kept in the castle armory. It was a massive piece of steel and wicked sharp. A dwarven blade made for the purpose of hunting dragons. Long enough and strong enough to slice an entire horse in two with just one strike. I took it and my horse which had been waiting for me outside the castle wall were I had left it, and I rode out towards were I knew the secret exit to the castle lie.

The trail from the scum that had taken your mother was easy to find as their was no path from the place the secret passage opened up too and they broke branches and disturbed nearly every bush. I went after it as fast as I could and when I finally caught up to them and nearly screamed my head off at the sight.

There were seven of them, and they had your mother bound and gagged. They stood around her, laughing like the monsters that they really were. "You witches aren't so scary when you can't say your spells." One of the bastard had been laughing. "This has to be the easiest job we ever got. They even drugged the girl for us."

"Yeah, but she's coming around now. Sorry love, but we've been payed to spill your blood." A second said. "But don't worry, we won't make you die without knowing the love of a man..."

They laughed as her arms were tied together and her legs forced apart. The second man was pulling down his own britches, preparing to mount your mother. I saw her fear and her revolution as the man descended on her.

I hardly even remember then next few seconds. I rode up to them, erging my horse to go as fast as it would and used my sword to hack the man who's trousers were down in half. His upper body spun through the air sending blood everywhere and startling the other scoundrels.

I jumped from the saddle and rushed towards them again, swinging my blade in a wide arc, cutting two more of them. The second hand armor they wore put up no resistance at all to my dwarven sword. Compared to the dragon scales it was made to cut through, the thick hide might as well have been empty air. One's head threw off while the other lost and arm and had a cut through his heart. They both feel down dead.

I had fought my way to your mother and was forcing the others back. But by then they had recovered from there shock and were reaching for sword and shield. They might as well not have bothered. The next three went down just as easily as the first. Their shields and swords shattered underneath the weight of the family sword and my rage. The final man had loaded a crossbow and the bolt slammed into my left leg, but I didn't care. I still ran towards him, ignoring the pain. He had raised his crossbow above his head, trying to shield himself. He had been begging for mercy. I sliced him in half from his neck down to between his legs.

I got back to your mother, stripped her of her bonds and she throw her arms around my neck and started to sob. She knew what had happened. She was always a smart girl. She knew that she couldn't go back to the castle. Her step mother was still there, and would try again to kill her. She had no where left to go.

After a few moments and got her to her feet and went down on one knee in front of her. Then, right there, with me still injured and covered in blood, I showed her the ring and I asked your mother to run away with me. It wasn't how I imagined me asking her, but at least I got my answer.

By the time the sun was going down, she used her magic to mend her clothes as best she could, as well as my wounded leg and we got back up on horseback to head into town. I told my grandfather what had happened and he and my grandmother started packing up to leave town.

'Alright... this still doesn't explain why you say that Ichigo was promised to a wizard.'

The story isn't done yet. Keep waiting. I told you it would be a long one.

* * *

 **I've been watching Berserk... does it show?**


End file.
